Vic -- Iris tridentata

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To: Robert R. Pries

 

The last 5 months I have been so involved with non iris activities that I have been unable to digest many of the stimulating comments on the iris-species forum.  With a little more free time now I have been going back and reviewing some of the comments on the forum. I apologize for taking so long to make a comment on two of your postings.

 

I read with great interest your two emails of February 25, on [iris-species] setosa, hookeri, tridentata, var. canandensis and var. arctica.  These were in response to ?tesilvers? request ?could someone shed some light on the current taxonomic view of these irises? You state that tridentata seems to occur in brackish coastal backwater in the South.  In the Florida panhandle, the populations of tridentata that I am familiar with occur in pine flatwoods ecosystems, the types of habitat where pitcher plants are abundant.  I have never observed tridentata growing in what I would consider to be ?brackish coastal backwaters.?  You stated that: ?it has been postulated that Iris tridentata, chromosomes = 40 may be more closely related to Louisiana irises.?  I had previously inquired what the 2n number for tridentata was.  And no one seemed to know.  Do you happen to know the source for the 2n = 40? 

 

I am very familiar with both wild and garden population of Louisiana type of irises and Florida panhandle populations of tridentata and I grow a good number of Louisiana wild type irises and tridentata irises in my garden.  The morphology, growth habits and everything is so different between the Louisiana and tridentata irises that I have a very difficult time believing that they are related.  I am aware that the types of observations that I am basing this on can be misleading.   Could you shed a little more light on why it has been postulated that tridentata could be more closely related to Louisiana irises than the setosa clan.

 

You state relative to tridentata that ?there is no reason to assume that it would not be hardy further North but No one has this data.?  I would guess from what I know of its growth habits that it would be hardy much further north; however, when data are collected, one often finds their guesses wrong.

 

Vic

 

Victor W. Lambou

272 Pine Lane

Crawfordville, FL 32327

Zone 8b